


Stammi Vicino

by Lewis33



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, idk how im gonna do this, itll be long bois, just a fuckton of characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 20:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17814602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lewis33/pseuds/Lewis33
Summary: Cloud meets a young Regis and befriends a bunch of children along the way.





	Stammi Vicino

Cloud knew when he woke up with green specks dotting his vision and an unfamiliar landscape before him, Gaea had kicked his shit to another time and place. At least his sword stayed a solid weight against his back. In fact, that was his only reprieve from the spiraling despair he felt when he noticed the throaty growls coming from the brush. Despite the light of the moon casting long shadows across the moonlit clearing, Cloud could only spy the occasional tremble from the grasses surrounding him. In other words, Cloud just couldn’t catch a break no matter what god had decided to fuck him over this time. 

Containing a long-suffering sigh, Cloud carefully lifted himself from the dirt into a crouch. He bounced a little on the balls of his feet in hopes of catching a glimpse of– yes there– gleaming eyes in the brush. They tracked his movements hungrily, as a predator would prey. Cloud huffed. As if. 

Oh, that had been a mistake. Whatever it was stalking him wasn’t alone. An entire pack of what appeared to be large, cat-like lizards with very big fangs crept out from the bushes to circle him, waiting for an opportunity. Cloud frowned, sizing up the strange creatures. They had a variety of spinal protrusions, but other than the teeth and front claws, their backside seemed entirely too vulnerable. Right, then. 

Cloud hefted First Tsurugi from his back and held it firmly before him. 

“Let’s mosey.”

\---

 

Perhaps he’d been a bit too forceful with the old man he’d sold the monster parts to. To be fair, he’d tried to cheat him, claiming the parts were worth the same as a wad of chocobo feathers. Luckily enough, a man claiming to be a hunter had quite angrily spoke up on Cloud’s behalf, insisting the parts were worth at least 20 gil per limb. ‘Voretooth’ he’d called them. With the man’s help, he had gotten a total of 480 gil from the six he had killed. He couldn’t begin to judge if that was good or not until he gained some sense for the worth of things in this world, but he supposed it could at least buy him a meal. 

After Cloud had thanked the man and left the shop, the swing of the door behind him caught his attention. 

“Hey, wait!” Glancing back, the hunter, a man in his mid-twenties, had his fist thrust out towards him. “You forgot this.” Confused, Cloud let the man drop a necklace into his palm. Evidently, it was new and the dog tag was blank. 

“What’s this for?”

The hunter chuckled, “Every hunter needs one!”

Frowning, Cloud rubbed his thumb over the tag, catching a glimpse of himself on its smooth surface. He looked tired. Resigned even. If this was the direction Gaea wanted him to go, then who was he to even argue anymore? It’s not like he'd had ever had a say in his destiny in the first place. 

“So be it.” Cloud slipped the chain over his neck, nodded to the hunter, and began to step away again when the man caught him by the arm. 

“Hey, woah there. I didn’t mean to assume. I just kinda thought you head the look about you. You know. . .” The man awkwardly scratched at his thin brown hair and gestured to First Tsurugi. At Cloud’s blank stare, he ploughed forward. “Anyway, I never introduced myself. I’m Dave.” Cloud eyed Dave’s outstretched hand then firmly grasped it in his own. They were rough and warm against his, and when he held on for just a bit too long Dave coughed and smiled awkwardly to catch his attention. “Bit lost in your thoughts there, hey bud.” The corner of Cloud’s lips twitched at the man’s unbothered reaction, dropping his hand.  

“You could say that. . . The name’s Cloud by the way.”

Cloud could see the exact moment Dave’s mind conjured up that horrid joke because his awkward grin turned into a sly one. God no, not this again.

“Heh, got your head in the clouds much?”

Cloud hoped someone farted in Gaea’s cereal one day.

\---

 

Much to Cloud’s annoyance, Dave became a fast friend. He had the mellow temperament and honor of Angeal combined with the puppy-like qualities of Zack, and Cloud could not escape the double-vision that would sometimes plague him when they were together. 

Turns out that would be a lot.

Dave was the son of the current stand-in Head Hunter, Ezma Auburnbrie. While certainly a fierce spirit against her enemies, her seemingly gentle demeanor was better suited for management than field work. And currently why Cloud was stuck in a boardroom at Meldacio Hunter HQ watching the mother and son pair bicker over something– probably Dave’s latest injury trying to save Cloud when he was the one in need of saving– but that was besides the point. That dumbass. Cloud fingered the chain around his neck, tracing the inscription with his thumb. 

Dave had gotten it engraved shortly after they had started traveling together. He insisted it was important for his loved ones to know if he went missing, so that their hearts could be at ease. When Cloud had told him he had no one to look for him, he’d gotten the same sad look Zack sometimes got when Cloud mentioned his mother offhandedly. 

He’d clapped his hand over his shoulder, meeting his eyes with only a slight sheen to them, “Don’t worry, Cloud. I’ll always find you.”

_ ‘Don’t worry, Spike! I got you!’ _

Cloud had turned away then and now, with his heart in his throat and his eyes stinging. He wouldn’t lose his friend, any friends, ever again. After all, he had precious few to lose.

“Cloud, are you even listening?”

He startled out of the memory, focusing in on Ezma and Dave who were eyeing him with that exasperated look they got when he lost track of himself. 

He blinked, “No.”

Dave guffawed at his response, clapping his mother, who was shaking her head and muttering at the sky, on the back with enthusiasm. “Gods, Cloud. You’re the fuckin’ best sometimes, I swear.” Dave gazed back at him again but with that different sort of look he got more often nowadays. His mother got it too. So did the kids in town. And so had Zack and Tifa and Aerith. It was inexplicably fond, and Cloud could not help feel that he was undeserving of those feelings. 

He had shown up out of nowhere, with a bleeding Dave in tow, to a mother that worried herself to tears over other people on a near constant basis. Sure he had saved his own world when he had been Cloud Strife, Gaea’s Chosen, but now he refused to think of himself as the savior of anything anymore. He couldn’t even save himself. How was he expected to do that for others? Besides, whenever he fought for the Planet his motives had always been entirely selfish. He had fought for his friends’ and his own survival. So when the people of Edge had lauded him as a hero, he had felt extremely unworthy of the attention, preferring to hide away in Seventh Heaven or out in the Wastes. Zack had been the true hero, and Cloud would be the only one to ever remember that.

“Jeez, mom, you want  _ this  _ guy to lead us? I dunno if he’s qualified. Just take a look at that dumb expression on his face.”

Cloud frowned and opened his mouth to argue, then realizing what was said, snapped it shut, “What do you mean  _ lead?” _

Ezma smiled gently at him from the head of the table, “Exactly what he said, dearie. I want you to be the next Head Hunter.” 

\---

 

When Cloud had arrived with an injured Dave in tow, it was safe to say he hadn’t been in the best standing with his mother. While her son had been on strict bed rest, she had taken it upon herself to make Cloud’s new life as a hunter a living hell. Whether it be sticking him with the roughest mentors she could find or making him errand boy to hunters all across Eos, Ezma Auburnbrie definately had it out for him. So when he came back from missions worn out but laughing along with his mentor or from a week long delivery that should have taken an entire month (given she left him no map or means to travel), she began to think perhaps there was some truth behind her son’s defense of this man. She began to conduct her own investigation.

“Cloud, eh?” The burly hunter stroked his beard, then smiled, “He’s a tenacious one. Skilled too and no amateur. Doesn’t seem too familiar with the local beasts, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders,” the man let out a booming laugh, “That is, when his head ain’t up in the clouds!” 

Scowling, Ezma slapped the man’s bicep, “Charlie! You oaf! I told you to knock some sense into him.”

Grinning, Charlie gripped her shoulder lightly, “Ezma, you ain’t given him a real chance yet. Let him prove himself to you, and you’ll see what me ‘n Dave saw too.” At that, Charlie nodded and swept down the hall, elbowing fresh recruits and laughing all the way.

Ezma hated that man. Especially when he made sense. 

She would test the boy herself.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Next Time: Cloud faces the wrath of the Head Hunter. He also meets some guy in a waistcoat that keeps pulling swords out of his ass. He thinks they might get along.


End file.
